VR for Impact

We’re thrilled to announce that, in support of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, we are starting a $10 million program, VR for Impact, dedicated to showing how VR can lead to positive impact and change. We know that VR provides a tremendous opportunity to develop and share ideas in impactful ways that can lead to change, and through VR for Impact, we will fund and support content and technologies that create the most powerful experiences to transform our world.

The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Virtual Reality’s ability to immerse people into an experience is unmatched, and VR can drive the world to act on global issues the human race is facing. Through VR for Impact, we are committing $10 million to industry partners and content developers to create experiences that improve awareness, education, and lead to action.

“HTC is a pioneer in recognizing the work the UN has done to promote social change through virtual reality,” said Gabo Arora, Creator of the UN’s VR Initiative and Creative Advisor to the World Food Programme. “The Vive’s room-scale VR capability can be a powerful tool for immersive storytelling, education and training; their support will empower more people to effect global change, give voices to the most vulnerable and provide access to new possibilities for the most marginalized.”

“There are millions of untold stories in every crisis, especially on the front lines where much of our work takes place,” said Corinne Woods, Director of Communications for the United Nations World Food Programme, which is utilizing the latest innovations in VR. “HTC’s support of new ways to tell important stories, and help in shaping innovation for the UN’s sustainable development agenda, will build on the impact of our work and take it in new and exciting directions.”

“The potential for Virtual Reality to help us learn, understand, and transform the world is limitless. VR for Impact is a challenge to the VR community and content developers across the globe to help drive awareness and to solve the biggest challenges of mankind,” said Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO, HTC. “HTC Vive will fund the best ideas using Virtual Reality that truly drive awareness and positive change in our world. We encourage all players in the VR ecosystem to join as only together can we drive real impact.”

Starting today, VR for Impact will be calling for ideas at its website: https://www.vr4impact.com. The first winning projects will be announced on “Earth Day” April 22, 2017.

On Thursday, January 19th at the United Nations WFP Tent, Vive will be demonstrating special VR experiences that allow participants to step inside the shoes of others as they face some of humanity’s biggest challenges and inspire you to see how storytelling, education and creativity of mankind can be reimagined.

Great initiative from HTC Vive! I am developing a VR aplication with great social impact and I'm thrilled to submit my project. However, since there is Intelectual Property rights involved, I wonder if the information I share in my application is 100% secure. I have read the Privacy Policy terms, but it is still not clear to me who will have access to this information.

1) Final decisions haven't been made on that yet - it depends on what gets submitted. We're open to all stages of an idea, but obviously, the more developed and feasible the idea is (even if it's not prototyped or coded), the more likely it is to be seriously considered.

2) That's a good suggestion, but right now we don't have that site. We will certainly publish details of titles selected on VRforImpact.com.

@renanfoliveira - if you're talking about your own IP, you own the copyright and therefore, there should be no concerns in submission. If it's someone else's IP, you may want to talk to the original rights holders. Your application is only shared with those working on the VRforImpact project.

@renanfoliveira, no problem. If you're in a patent pending scenario, I'm sure you might want to be reticent. You could in theory suggest what the project is without giving too many details? Ultimately your choice of course.

Hi @Rockjaw Any more info to share on a deadline for submissions? Can I submit more than one idea? How fully fleshed out are you looking for - ie how polished a document or video links. Do you want background info on team members? I'm just trying to get a handle on the parameters and specs for submission. This is a very exciting opportunity. Many thanks.

@Rockjaw.. thankyou for starting this inititive and this is great news for using this technology for positive change! I'm interested in the 'Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources' as I am developing a training sim for Cetaceans experts! I Hope I can be part of this too!

@DAVR - your description doesn't have to be completely final, but of course, the less it changes going forward and the more 'solid' it is, the more likely it is to be considered. Treat it as a serious business proposal is my suggestion!

@dhamlin - we don't really have a deadline for submissions, currently. If that changes, we'll let you know. Earth Day is, we hope, the first time we'll reveal our first apps, so bear that in mind. As for 'how fully fleshed out' see my suggestion to DAVR above; this should be seen as a business proposal, and the more you can give to support your application, the more likely we are to take it seriously. That doesn't guarantee success, of course, but it probably helps.

@Rockjaw Great initiative! What does the call mean exactly with 'for any platform'? I assume it has to be a project made for the Vive, right? And would you also be interested in a 360 video project, making use of the quality of the Vive, but from a static view point and without interaction inside the 360 experience? We do have some ideas about phisical interaction during the experience.